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January 27, 2013

New Universal L Bracket Base from Hejnar PHOTO

A new addition to the Hejnar PHOTO line of Universal Camera L Base plates has been released recently. The new L base plate with model name L Base 4 follows the concept of the Modular Universal Camera L Bracket presented a few months ago, for which it is actually intended.
The new plate dimensions and characteristics are almost identical to the existing Base 3 with the exception of the longitudinal captive slot, which has been replaced by 6 parallel small captive slots running front to back.
This attribute may solve the problem of proper attachment of the base plate when the tripod socket is set off center on the camera base.Universal Base 4

Manufacturer Specification:

Model:

Base 4

Length:

10.16 cm (4.0")

Height / Thickness:

0.95 cm (0.375")

Width:

3.81 cm (1.50")

Captive Slots:

6

Safety Stop Screws:

2 x M3

Weight:

68 gr (2.4 oz)

Color:

Black hard coat anodized

Material:

C.N.C. machined 6061-T6 Aluminium

Made in :

USA

As all its siblings L Base 4 is precision CNC Machined from solid 6061-T6 Aluminum blocks and is hard coat anodized in a glossy black color, while all screws are made of Stainless Steel. With a length of 4.0" (101.6 mm) is mostly suitable to large cameras like Canon 1D series or Nikon DnX series as well as large gripped cameras where the battery door will not be blocked by its size. Six parallel captive slots at 0.375" (9.52 mm) increments will let you center the base with your lens even if the tripod socket is placed off center at the bottom of the camera or battery grip as is the case with some battery grips. The base is also equipped with a wrist strap attachment hole at the right end.

The bottom side is recessed in order to accommodate the 1/4"-20 stainless-steel captive screw for mounting the base plate. However, this is the first of the L Base series that comes with two M3 safety stop screws preinstalled. On the side we can see the L Side mounting screw and the two dowel pin holes for the alignment of the vertical side.

L Base 4 drawing for exact dimensions.

Combined with an L Bracket Side

Each base plate can be used as a stand alone camera plate or in combination with one of the five available L Bracket Sides from Hejnar PHOTO as a full L bracket.

The L Base 4 is pictured above with L Side 2 forming a complete L Bracket

The L Bracket vertical Side is attached on the Base via a long screw and aligned by two dowel pins, forming the full L bracket. The L side may be removed at will, leaving some weight behind or just to replace the batteries of a side loading battery grip without loosing the alignment of the base plate.

Somehow, when this base plate design with parallel slots is attached to a side plate forming an L bracket, may prove a little disadvantageous for users that shoot in tethered mode monitoring their photos cabled to a laptop. Compared to a base plate with a longitudinal slot, which can be simply loosened a little and slid aside in order to reveal the camera connectors, this one has to be dismounted and remounted at a different slot.
However, according to statistics only few photographers shoot tethered with a cable and fewer will in the future, since the increasing popularity of Eye-Fi cards, or Wi-Fi featured in new camera models will make the use of a cable very rare.

Current price for Universal L Bracket Base 4, as all Hejnar L Bracket Bases is US$ 45.00 while the price for Universal L Bracket Sides 1, 2, 3 is US$ 45.00 and for Sides 5, 6 is US$ 65.00 (+ Shipping where applicable) and are all available from the Hejnar Photo online storeCheck the Recommended Sellers page for a valid Hejnar Photo discount coupon.

4 comments
:

Actually the Base 4 is actually 4+ mm shorter than the Base 3 and that results in a better fit and function when used with a 5d3, particularly when used in the following way

a) as a base plate only without overlap of the battery door nor overhang of the opposite end, where the curvature of the corner starts toward vertical. b) as an L plate with side plate flush to camera.

In either case BASE 3 would result in either the battery door being compromised or you had a catch point on the other end.... A good review though!